Advanced Spanish Conversation Meeting Highlights

Tuesdays are for OKC Spanish meetings!

Las pláticas are conversation meetings with no topic. We just hang out and chitchat!

When I got to to the bookstore to set up for the meeting, bookseller Linda told me that we are invited to try out their new "Conversation Pit", which is just behind where we usually are - up by the window, facing the interior of the mall. It should help make the noise from the cafe and the music on the speakers less distracting - and bonus: nobody has to sit next to the hot fireplace in the winter!

Here's hoping the new spot will be everything we could ever want!

¿Quién estuvo presente?

We had one new person, recently arrived from service in the Peace Corps in Costa Rica. Then we had one of our semi-regulars come back after a short of a hiatus (doctor-in-training!), and a dedicated regular, L, showed up to help keep the conversation moving!

My right-hand-man had a kid's birthday to celebrate, so I guess we'll forgive him for his absence 🙄😄

¿De qué hablamos?

With Mr. Peace Corps there, we went through a couple of rounds of getting to know each other - hobbies, where you went to school, and a little bit about work. I mentioned the anniversary party in October (I'm thinking October 16/17?) and a little bit about the admin side of running the group. Our Doctor-in-Training mentioned she's got a visit Napa Valley coming up; while we were talking about wine, an observer who was listening to our conversation introduced himself, and mentioned that he has a client who runs a good vineyard in Oklahoma! L recognized Sparks Vineyard & Winery, near Chandler, OK.

Maybe we should take a field trip?

El vocabulario

With the conversation going in so many different directions, it was hard to keep up with the vocab we were accumulating! Mr. Peace Corps was wearing a shirt with an opossum (zarigüeya) - not to be confused with the Australian pósum. The word for vineyard got a bit of practice (viña, or viñedo). L mentioned that she had done rowing in college, and I talked a little bit about my new sailing hobby, which needed words like velero (sailboat), la vela (the sail), and las drizas (the ropes, "lines", that adjust the sails). I knew velero, I guessed at la vela (that word has a VARIETY of meanings 😅), and I just used the word las líneas for las drizas because I was trying to explain a lot about sailing and I decided I couldn't look up every word 😆

And at some point I confused myself on whether "to rhyme" is reflexive/reciprocal or not - the answer is no, rimar is not technically a pronominal verb. That concept is already baked in. However, it does look like rimarse is not not-used. But if you ask the Real Academia de la Lengua Española, it isn't technically correct. So, it should be: las palabras riman.

---

¡Buen viento y buena mar!

Even though I had a little bit of trouble hearing everyone over the noise of the people who were sitting in the conversation pit, we had a good time! It was great to see our Doctor-in-Training again, Mr. Peace Corps speaks fantastic Spanish, and I consider L to have been the VIP of the meeting for her conversational contributions!

Thank you for your support!

Help me keep improving the group's events and resources by sending me a few bucks!

(get it?! 😆)

Whether you sponsor a cup of coffee, help me get a new whiteboard stand, or fund administrative & operational tools I need to create educational materials, it will all go towards helping me help you learn Spanish!